A New research published in Diabetologia showed three times more risk of developing dementia in people who get type 2 diabetes before 60 years compared to those who do not develop diabetes.

In 1990-1992, 20.0% of the 11,656 patients from the prospective Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) cohort without diabetes at baseline (aged 46-70 years) had prediabetes (classified as A1c 5.7%-6.4% or 39-46 mmol/mol). It was observed that within a follow-up period of 15.9-year 3143 patients acquired diabetes. Patients with prediabetes at baseline had a 44.6% chance of developing diabetes, whereas those without had a 22.5% chance.

Dementia occurred in 2247 individuals over a median of 24.7 years of follow-up. Further a 23.9% cumulative incidence of dementia was observed among patients with diabetes whereas non-diabetics had a cumulative incidence of 20.5%. The risk of dementia was similarly raised, albeit to a lower extent, among those aged 60-69 years at diabetes diagnosis (HR, 1.73; P.001) and those aged 70-79 years at diabetes diagnosis (HR, 1.23; P.001). It was further noticed that the connection was not significant for individuals aged 80 and up (HR, 1.13).

The findings show that delaying the advancement of prediabetes, particularly in younger people, maybe an essential method to minimize the dementia burden.

 (Source: https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/992420?src=#vp_1

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00125-023-05930-7)